Ann Marie Selby didn't want to wait around for the next bus to arrive, so she started to walk.

Selby's big mistake? The street she decided to walk along was 82nd Avenue.

That's according to the attorney she hired, because seconds later, two Portland police officers detained her under suspicion that she was a prostitute.

Minutes later, the 36-year-old Portland Community College writing instructor was in the back of a patrol car and headed to jail, where she would be fingerprinted, photographed and held for hours.

Selby's attorney, Matt McHenry, said that in their zest to crack down on crime, police infringed on the civil rights of a law-abiding citizen. The case is also indicative, other defense attorneys say, of a wider-spread trampling of rights as police bend to community pressure to fight prostitution.

Selby -- who was wearing what her attorney describes as a hooded sweatshirt, loose knee-length skirt and Crocs shoes -- had never been arrested before.

Prosecutors quickly dismissed the criminal case. Selby sued the city, and last week she settled after the city agreed to pay her $5,000.

The city, however, didn't admit fault. And an attorney representing the city says there's more to the story than a woman simply walking down 82nd Avenue.

Detective Mary Wheat, a police spokeswoman, said police have legal authority to approach anyone and ask what they're doing. However, it usually takes more to spur an officer to start questioning someone. Reasons an officer might approach a woman along 82nd Avenue or Sandy Boulevard -- both prostitution hot spots -- include waiting at a bus stop but not getting on a bus, making eye contact with passing drivers or stopping to talk to a driver in an idling car.

"We do have (officers) out there who are going to be paying attention to women who appear to be loitering in the area and engage them in mere conversation," Wheat said. Officers want to find out if they are prostitutes who are looking for customers, or if they are women who simply missed their bus, Wheat said, adding that she wasn't familiar with the specifics of Selby's case.

In Selby's case, Officers Lacey Sparling and Heath Kula said they spotted Selby standing at the No. 72 TriMet bus stop near Southeast 82nd Avenue and Mill Street at about 7:30 p.m. on July 30, 2007.

According to her deposition, Sparling said Selby caught her attention because Selby appeared to walk toward an SUV that had pulled onto a side street, stare into it, then walk away. Unbeknownst to Selby, the officers parked their patrol car behind a bush and watched her for about 10 minutes.

Both officers said they saw Selby repeatedly make eye contact with drivers. Selby would later explain in her deposition that she was only looking for the first sign of an approaching bus.

Sparling also said she suspected Selby of prostitution because she saw Selby step away from the stop as a bus approached. Selby would later say that she wanted to get on the bus, but it drove on by. She found a witness to corroborate her story.

The next bus arrived a few minutes later, and Selby got on. The officers chanced upon Selby about 15 blocks later, walking back the same direction the bus had just come.

That's when they pulled up to Selby, and Sparling began peppering her with questions about what she was doing there and where she was going. In her deposition, Selby said she thought Sparling suspected she was a prostitute. Selby, who described herself as shocked, kept walking.

"I felt, like, violated by the way she was interrogating me," Selby said in her deposition.

But when the officer stepped in front of her again and told her she was being detained, Selby started to explain that she'd arrived on 82nd Avenue that day to go to a health spa, and that she had gotten off the first bus in hopes of transferring to another. But when she checked the schedule, she decided to walk back to transfer to a third route.

The officers, Selby said, didn't seem to believe her.

In a last-ditch effort to clear her name, Selby said she showed her spa receipt to the officer. Both sides agree that Sparling took the receipt from her hands, which prompted Selby to try to grab it back because it was her only piece of evidence.

According to the officers, Selby struck Sparling's arms, causing the officer's pen and notebook to fly into traffic. Selby said she only tried to grab the receipt. Selby said she was shocked by what had just happened. She then cooperated completely.

"I wasn't trying to, like, stand up for myself or stand up for my rights or anything at that point," Selby said. "I was just so scared."

The officers quickly put Selby into a hold and cited her for harassment, which the law defines as "offensive physical contact."

Selby was given a court date and released at about 1:30 a.m.

Bill Manlove, a deputy city attorney, said all the officers' actions that evening were legally justified: The officers had "reasonable suspicion" to stop Selby and "probable cause" to arrest her. And, Manlove said, the officers listened to what Selby had to say because they didn't end up charging her with prostitution.

But Selby's attorney believes the officers overstepped their bounds. McHenry said he understands that no one wants a prostitute working their neighborhood. "But I don't think that gives the officers the right to walk up to any woman on 82nd and interrogate them like they're a prostitute," McHenry said.